Loading, please wait...
LOT 0567
Greek Silver Earring Pair
CIRCA 4TH-2ND CENTURY B.C.
1 in. (22.5 grams total, 27-29 mm).
Matched pair of ribbed crescents with loops. [2, No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
-
Greek Silver Gryphon's Head Attachment
Hellenistic, 5th-3rd century B.C.Estimate: £150 - 200 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £75
Modelled in the round with radiating lugs forming the mane, hooked beak and pricked ears. 15.85 grams, 31.88 mm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s. -
Greek Gold Amuletic Bird
5th-1st century B.C.Estimate: £1,500 - 2,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £750
Comprising a sheet-gold hollow-formed avian figure with applied filigree detailing, and a separate beaked head; accompanied by a rectangular blue glass fragment. 0.57 grams, bird: 19 mm
Private collection, USA and Switzerland, acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s; thence by descent. -
Lydian Silver Ribbed Jug with Spout and Handle
Archaic, 6th century B.C.Estimate: £6,000 - 8,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £3,000
Comprising a squat body with a median band of vertical ribbing, a short neck with a broad flared rim, and a thickened outer rim, a flared foot; fluted strap handle and a U-section spout flared at the outer end. 211 grams, 14 cm
UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13266-253452.
This jug can plausibly be placed in the Lydian world of western Anatolia during the Archaic period, when Lydia stood at the crossroads of the Greek and Near Eastern worlds. Far from being culturally isolated, Lydia was deeply involved in the exchange of artistic forms, luxury materials, and metalworking traditions that moved across the eastern Mediterranean in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. The attribution, therefore, suggests more than geography alone: it points to a wealthy and outward-looking culture in which prestige objects in precious metal carried both social and economic weight. Silver was especially important in this period. Before coinage became widespread, it functioned as a recognised store of value and circulated in weighed forms across the Mediterranean and Near East. In Lydia, its importance is sharpened by the region’s close association with the early history of coinage: ancient sources and modern scholarship alike connect the Lydians with the development of some of the earliest coined money, first in electrum and soon after in distinct gold and silver issues. A vessel such as this would therefore have been more than a practical object. Its material alone marked it as a possession of consequence, while its workmanship placed it firmly within the culture of elite display.
